A queen in monochrome

A few days ago I posted a photo of a Prenolepis ant queen. It’s a decent photo, in focus and properly exposed. But probably not anything I’d print out and hang on the wall.

Check out the monochrome version above, though (click on it to enlarge). I don’t often put my images through such severe levels adjustments, but this one works rather well. I prefer it to the original.

If not, it’s really interesting how the color image draws you initially to the area where the thorax and abdomen join, whereas the black and white image draws you immediately to the mouthparts and then to the rest of the head.

I find it fascinating that the camera allows us to see so many things frozen in the moment. The black and white looks almost like an electron micrograph. Pretty neat…

When I put up some firefly images on my own blog yesterday I was impressed with how pink the larvae and the adults appear when captured digitally.

I’ll have to spend some time playing with black and white versions of some of my recent images… I suspect it will be more fun than dealing with the papers next to me that await my grading!